‘Emungere’ is used by the comic writers for ‘cheating,’ as among other places (see A. P. 238) in the fragment from the Epiclerus of Cæcilius quoted by Cicero de Am. 26. “To wipe a man’s nose for him, is, to imply that he is a driveller who cannot do it for himself, and hence it means to ‘outwit’ and to ‘cheat’ him.” (Long in loco.) Others explain ‘emunctae naris’ as ‘keen-scented,’ like a hound, which is wrong.
10.versus dictabat] See S. 10. 92, n. The words ‘stans pede in uno’ mean with the utmost facility, or ‘standing at ease,’ as we might say. Others explain ‘stans pede in uno’ to mean within the time a man could stand on one foot. The other is right.
11.Cum flueret lutulentus] ‘Lutulentus’ combines two notions, dirtiness and obscurity. Lucilius may have imitated the obscenity of the old comedians; and in this, as in other respects, his verse may have been like a muddy stream. The word, no doubt, comprehends defects of taste as well as style.
12.piger scribendi ferre laborem,] ‘Piger ferre’ is a Greek construction, common in the Odes, but not so in the language of the Satires. (See C. i. 1. 18, n.) In C. iv. 14. 22, we have ‘impiger’ in the same construction.
14.Crispinus minimo] See S. i. 1. 120, n. ‘Minimo me provocat,’ ‘he offers me the greatest odds,’ literally, ‘he challenges me at the smallest amount’ to be staked on my side, while he puts down a large one on his. The mention of the negligent way in which Lucilius wrote, leads on to the mention of small poets of the day, Crispinus and Fannius. See Introduction.
15.Accipiam tabulas;] This is nothing more than a polite challenge to see which could write most verses in a given time. ‘Take tablets if you please, and I will take them too.’ The omission of the personal pronoun before ‘accipiam’ to express antithesis, is nothing in familiar talk, where there could be no mistake. ‘Custodes’ are umpires to see that there is no foul play.
18.raro et perpauca loquentis.] ‘The gods have done me a kindness in making me of a poor and unpretending disposition, that speaks but seldom, and very little at a time.’ This is Horace’s reply to the challenge, which he declines.
19.At tu conclusas] Persius imitates this, S. v. 10.
21.Beatus Fannius] This Fannius is spoken of in another place (S. i. 10. 80) as a contemptible person, and a parasite of Hermogenes Tigellius (S. 3. 129, n.). It appears probable, from Horace’s words, that he had his admirers,as rant and emptiness will always have, and that they made him a present, by way of a testimonial as it is called, of a set of handsome ‘capsae’ and a bust. The ‘capsa’ was a round box, suited to hold one or more rolled volumes. The larger sort was called ‘scrinium.’
22.cum mea nemo] See Introduction. That Horace wrote many pieces which have not been preserved, appears clear from this passage and v. 71, sqq.
23.vulgo recitare timentis] See note on v. 73. The usage which leaves the personal pronoun to be inferred from the possessive, is common both in Greek and Latin. (See C. iii. 22. 6.) Compare Ovid (Heroid. v. 45): “Et flesti, et nostros vidisti flentis ocellos.” ‘Timeo’ and ‘metuo’ do not govern an infinitive mood in the prose writings of Horace’s day. ‘Vereor’ is used in that construction.
24.sunt quos] ‘There are some who are by no means pleased with this sort of writing, as being for the most part worthy of censure themselves.’ As to ‘sunt quos,’ see C. i. 1. 3, n. He seems to have particular persons or classes in view.
26.Aut ob avaritiam] ‘Laborare ob’ is an unusual construction, and the sentence begins with one form of expression and ends with another. ‘Ambitio’ generally had an epithet of a strong kind applied to it. Horace has ‘prava,’ ‘inanis,’ ‘mala,’ ‘misera’; and Cicero (De Off. i. 26) says, “Miserrima est omnino ambitio honorumque contentio.” The practice, therefore, seems to have been habitual, which, if we consider the evils that arose out of personal ambition, and the eagerness with which places of honor were sought at all times of the Republic, is not surprising.
28.Hunc capit argenti splendor;] Cups and other vessels curiously wrought in silver and Corinthian bronze, and very costly (such as Juvenal describes, S. i. 76), were among the many objects of extravagance at Rome. The exaggerated admiration of the persons Horace alludes to, for such works of art, might be comparatively harmless, if it did not lead them into dishonest ways of acquiring them, and beggaring their families, as Albius did, of whom we know nothing. His son is mentioned below (v. 108), as living in want through his father’s extravagance. ‘Stupet,’ with the ablative, occurs below (S. 6. 17); and ‘torpere,’ an equally strong word, is used in the same connection in S. ii. 7. 95.
29.Hic mutat merces] See C. i. 31. 12, n.
surgente a sole, etc.] This means from east to west (“ad ortus Solis ab Hesperio cubili,” C. iv. 15. 15). ‘Mutare merces’ can hardly be applied to any but a mercator. ‘Mala’ means dangers and hardships.
34.Foenum habet in cornu;] A law of the XII. Tables gave an action to any man who was injured by a vicious animal. It became customary, therefore, that any ox or other animal of vicious propensities should be marked in such a way as to warn passengers, and enable them to get out of its way. Hence the proverb, “He has a wisp of hay on his horn.”
37.a furno] ‘Furnus’ is the bakehouse, to which the lower sort of people, old women and children, carried their bread to be baked. ‘Lacus’ were tanks distributed in all parts of the city, into which water was conveyed from the aqueducts, and to which poorer persons resorted who could not afford to have water laid on at their houses.
38.Agedum,] ‘Dum,’ as an enclitic, signifies ‘awhile’; ‘agedum,’ ‘come a moment.’
39.Primum ego me illorum] ‘Primum’ means ‘in the first place’; before I begin, let me dispose of the fallacy which classes writers like myself among poets (the word assumed above, “Omnes hi metuunt versus, odere poëtas,” v. 33). This question occupies twenty-four verses, after which he returns to the main point, which is the odium attaching to writers of Satire. The dativeis commonly used after ‘licet esse,’ ‘datur esse,’ etc. See S. i. 1. 19; 2. 51. A. P. 372.
40.concludere versum] This expression is repeated below (S. 10. 59: “si quis pedibus quid claudere senis”).
42.Sermoni propiora:] ‘Sermoni’ means common conversation. Hence the name ‘Sermones’ given to the Satires and Epistles.
43.os Magna sonaturum,] This form does not appear elsewhere in this word. Cicero uses ‘praestaturus,’ and Sall. (Jug. 47) ‘juvaturus.’ Horace has ‘intonata’ in Epod. ii. 51. See Virg. (Georg. iii. 294): “Nunc veneranda Pales, magno nunc ore sonandum.” The attributes of a poet, which Horace considers essential, are genius, inspiration, and dignified sentiments, and language suited to high subjects.
45.Idcirco quidam] ‘In reference to this, certain persons have raised the question whether a comedy was or was not a poem’: “utrum comoedia esset poëma necne esset.” This is a grammarian’s question, and depends upon the definition assumed for a poem, in which, however, imagination is generally supposed to have a conspicuous place, and this would exclude the comedies of Plautus and Terence, and their Greek originals of the New Comedy, from the title of poetry. But the same rule would exclude much more that has passed for poetry, with less pretension to the name even than Horace’s Satires, or the Heautontimorumenos. ‘Quidam’ signifies the grammarians of Alexandria.
48.Differt sermoni] ‘Discrepare,’ ‘dissidere,’ ‘distare,’ ‘differre,’ Horace uses with the dative (see C. i. 27. 5, n.), but the two last also with the ablative and ‘ab.’ “It must not be supposed, however, that ‘from’ can in any way be the signification of the dative,” which remark Professor Key applies to the analogous construction in use by the poets with verbs of taking away.
At pater ardens] Demea in the Adelphi of Terence, and Plautus’s Theuropides are instances in point. ‘At,’ which usually in such places introduces an objection, here seems to be the remark of one who supposed that the fury and ranting of the enraged father in the comedy might be supposed to partake of the fire of poetry. But Horace disposes of the objection very easily. Any father who had such a son as Pomponius, for instance, a dissolute youth (of whom we know nothing more), would probably storm at him in much the same terms that the man on the stage uses. It was the aim of the New Comedy, which the Roman writers followed, to put real life upon the stage by means of a plot natural and probable, and to represent men and women as they were seen and heard every day, in which it differed essentially from the Old Comedy, a mere vehicle for political and personal satire.
54.puris — verbis,] ‘Puris’ corresponds to ‘inornata’ (A. P. 234). It means plain language, free from any mixture of trope or other ornament. See Terence (Heaut. Prol. 44):—
“Si quae laboriosa est ad me curritur:Si lenis est ad alium defertur gregem.In hac est pura oratio.”
So Cicero (In Verr. ii. 4. 22) speaks of “purum argentum,” plate with the ornamental work taken off. He says it is not enough (to constitute a poem) that it should be written throughout in plain language, which, if you take to pieces, it will be found that any father in common life expresses his wrath in the same terms as the father in the play.
56.His ego quae nunc,] ‘From these verses that I now write and Lucilius wrote formerly, if you take away certain times and measures (measures regulated by beating time), and change the position of the words, you will not (as you would if you broke up such a verse as the following, Postquam, etc.) find the members of the poet thus torn to pieces.’ That is, his language would be unintelligible, or there would be no more of the poet left.
60.Postquam Discordia tetra] The Scholiasts imply that this is a verse of Ennius, but they do not say from what poem it is taken. Virgil (Aen. i. 294) has “claudentur belli portae.” As to the position of ‘non,’ see S. 6. 1.
63.alias justum sit necne poëma,] The question he has been discussing since v. 38, namely, whether he and such as he are or are not properly called poets, is not resumed, though we may perceive that Horace does not consider that his arguments have quite settled it. He goes on to show that the public have no reason to be afraid of him.
65.Sulcius acer Ambulat et Caprius] These persons are said by the Scholiasts to have been public informers, or else ‘causidici,’ ‘pleaders,’ and Horace may mean that they have made themselves hoarse with roaring in the courts. The ‘libelli’ they carried were their note-books. ‘Ambulat’ signifies their strutting through the streets with the consciousness that men were afraid of them. ‘Delatores,’ ‘informers,’ were more common in after years, but they were sufficiently abundant in Horace’s time. Cælius and Birrus are said by Acron to have been profligate youths, meaning probably that they were young men of fortune, who had run through their money and had taken to robbing.
69.Ut sis] ‘Say that you are.’ Horace says he is not like the informers, going about seeking whom they may charge, and no one with clean hands need be afraid of him.
71.Nulla taberna meos habeat] In the next place, he has no wish to see his books in the shops and thumbed by the vulgar. The ‘taberna’ was sometimes under a porticus, in which case the titles of the books for sale within were hung upon the columns (‘pilae’) in front. Horace alludes to this when he says (A. P. 372), “Mediocribus esse poëtis. Non Dii, non homines non concessere columnae,” which means that indifferent poets would not be patronized by the booksellers. ‘Habeat’ expresses a wish. On Hermogenes Tigellius, see S. 3. 129, n.
73.Nec recito cuiquam] Nor does he go about reciting his works in public. This practice grew to be an intolerable nuisance in the course of time. Persons who had money and dabbled in literature inflicted their productions upon their clients and others, whom they bribed to listen and applaud them. What Horace goes on to complain of are silly people reciting their own verses in public places (the forum and the baths) to chance acquaintances, or even strangers, and annoying the neighbors while they gratified themselves. Round the baths were spaces called ‘scholae.’ On these, people sat or walked about, and conceited authors could tease their acquaintance and the strangers that were compelled to listen to them, and in the act of bathing they could do the same.
77.haud illud quaerentes,] ‘Illud’ is thus used commonly to introduce something about to be mentioned.
78.Laedere gaudes, Inquit,] Horace has said, that, even if he does write or recite, it is only in a private way, and no one therefore need be afraid of him. He now disposes of the charge of writing with malicious intent. ‘Studio’ is used adverbally, ‘of set purpose in your malignity you do it.’
80.Est auctor quis denique eorum] ‘Quis’ may be taken as an interrogative or an enclitic. It is not easy to decide. As to ‘auctor,’ see C. 1. 28. 14, n.
84.commissa tacere Qui nequit;] This, which is too commonly softened into a weakness, the inability to keep a secret, Horace very justly marks as one of the most prominent signs of a mischievous character. See C. iii. 2. 25, n. On ‘Romane,’ see C. iii. 6. 2, n.
86.Saepe tribus lectis] Four persons on each ‘lectus tricliniaris’ would be an unusually large party at one table. Three on each was the usual number when the table was full. Respecting the arrangement of the guests, see S. ii. 8. 20, n.
87.E quibus unus amet] ‘Amet’ is used in the same sense as in “umbram hospitalem consociare amant” (C. ii. 3. 10). ‘Quavis’ is ‘qua ratione vis.’ ‘Qui praebet aquam’ is an uncommon expression, but it seems to be used for the host “qui aquam temperat ignibus.” See C. iii. 19. 6, n. On ‘verax Liber,’ see C. i. 18. 16; iii. 21. 16; Epod. xi. 14. Epp. i. 18. 38; 5. 16. A. P. 434.
92.Pastillos Rufillus olet,] This verse is quoted from a former Satire (2. 27) only to show the innocent subjects with which Horace’s satire dealt, and he goes on to show that his satire has none of the malignity which is common in society. ‘Pastillus’ is a diminutive form of ‘panis,’ and signifies ‘a small roll,’ whence in a derived sense it came to mean small balls of perfume. Who Rufillus and Gargonius may have been, we cannot tell.
94.De Capitolini furtis] Petillius Capitolinus was charged, according to some stories, with stealing the golden crown from the statue of Jupiter when he was in charge of the Capitol. That he was tried on some serious charge and acquitted, and that the verdict did not escape scandal, is clear from the context. See also S. 10. 26. The nature of the accusation must remain a matter of doubt. We may also gather that he was a person of influence from v. 97, which he must have been, if he was acquitted, or supposed to have been acquitted, through the corruption of the jury.
95.ut tuus est mos:] ‘In your peculiar way,’ that is, sarcastically.
99.Sed tamen admiror,] There is sarcasm in this, which Horace calls ‘succus loliginis,’ the dark secretion of the cuttle-fish, black and malignant. ‘Aerugo mera,’ nothing but copper-rust, that eats into character and destroys it.
102.ut si quid] There is a little obscurity in the construction, but the sense is plain. ‘I promise, as I truly can, if I can promise of myself aught else with truth.’ ‘Promitto, ut vere possum si aliud quid vere de me promittere possum.’
104.hoc mihi juris] ‘So much liberty as this’;—‘hoc jus’ would not do.
105.insuevit pater optimus hoc me,] ‘Suesco’ and its compounds have an active as well as a neuter signification, taking usually an accusative of the person and dative of the thing, which order is inverted in Virg. (Aen. vi. 833): “Ne, pueri, ne tanta animis assuescite bella.” See below, S. ii. 2. 109: “Pluribus assuerit mentem corpusque superbum.” I am not aware of any instances of a double accusative after ‘suesco’ except this. The construction is that of the Greeks, who said ἐθίζειν τί τινα. ‘Notando’ has something of the technical sense. The father taught his son to avoid vices, and he did so by branding them in each instance by means of examples, which he says was the origin of his tendency to satire. See S. i. 6. 14, n., on ‘notare.’
108.quod mi ipse parasset:] Horace’s father had lived a life of frugal industry, and, in addition to any ‘peculium’ he may have laid by as a ‘servus,’ he made enough money by his occupation of ‘coactor’ (S. 6. 86) to purchase a farm of no great value at Venusia, to pay for his son’s education at Rome, and enable him to continue it at Athens.
109.Albi ut male vivat filius,] See above, v. 28, n. This person, of whom nothing is known, is to be distinguished from the coxcomb in the sixth Satire (v. 30). Scetanius (otherwise Sectanius) is not more known than Barrus. Trebonius was the name of a plebeian gens of some distinction, but which of them Horace alludes to, it is impossible to say.
115.Sapiens vitatu quidque petitu] ‘The philosopher may give you good reasons as to what is best to be avoided and what to be sought; I am satisfied if I can maintain the practice of my fathers,’ etc. Horace’s father had no mind to refine upon the foundation of morals, nor any pretension to a philosophical view of these matters. He knew that right was right and wrong waswrong, and followed the beaten track, and would have his son do the same. Horace expresses the same below, S. 6. 82, sqq. The whole of the passage there should be compared with this. The elder Horace was no doubt a plain, sensible man. As to ‘sapiens,’ see C. i. 34. 2.
121.Formabat] This is Horace’s usual word for education. C. i. 10. 2: “Qui feros cultus hominum recentum Voce formasti.” See C. iii. 24. 54, n.
123.Unum ex judicibus selectis] It was the duty of the Prætor Urbanus annually to select a certain number of persons whose names were registered in the Album Judicum Selectorum, and from whom were chosen by lot the ‘judices’ for each trial. It is uncertain whether at this time, or by a subsequent ‘lex’ of Augustus, their functions were extended to civil as well as criminal proceedings. The number of these ‘judices’ varied. By the ‘lex Servilia Glaucia Repetundarum’ it was fixed at 450. The law that was in force at the time Horace refers to was the ‘lex Aurelia,’ by which the Judices Selecti were made eligible from the Senators, Equites, and Tribuni Aerarii. Horace’s father, as plain men are wont, looked up with reverence to the body in whom were rested such high functions; but the office was not an enviable one, nor always most purely exercised. See C. iv. 9. 39, n. As to ‘auctor,’ see above, v. 80.
126.Avidos] This signifies ‘intemperate,’ as in C. i. 18. 11.
129.Ex hoc ego sanus] Horace says that, owing to his father’s training (‘ex hoc’), he had been kept in a sound and healthy state, and preserved from those vices which in their worst form bring destruction, but which in a moderate degree may be overlooked. He implies that in this venial form he is liable to such faults; but even from this smaller measure, time, the candor of friends, and reflection will deduct a good deal. The sentence is a little irregular, but sufficiently intelligible. ‘Consilium proprium’ is the counsel a man takes with himself when he reviews his life, and is bent upon correcting the errors of it. This sort of reflection a man may pursue, if he be in earnest, either as he lies on his bed (see below, S. 6. 122, n.), or as he walks abroad, alone among crowds. By ‘porticus’ Horace means any one of the public porticoes, covered walks, of which there were many at Rome, and which were usually crowded by persons of all sorts, resorting thither for exercise, conversation, or business.
137.olim] See C. ii. 10. 17, n.
139.Illudo chartis.] This means, ‘I put it down in my notes by way of amusement.’ As to ‘chartae,’ see S. ii. 3. 2, n.
141.Multa poëtarum veniat manus] Horace, in winding up his discourse, stops the lips of his opponents with a sally of good humor, which they would find it hard to resist. He says, if they will not make excuses for this little sin of his (that of taking notes of his neighbors’ vices), he will bring a host of sinners (poets) as bad as himself, and, like the proselytizing Jews (S. 9. 69, n.), they will attack them till they have made converts and poets of them all. ‘Plures’ signifies any number more than one, as in Epp. i. 5. 28, “Locus est et pluribus umbris.” ‘Multo plures sumus’ means ‘there are many besides me.’
SATIRE V.
Inthe spring of the yearB. C.37, M. Antonius brought over an army to Italy, and a fleet of 300 ships (Plut. Ant. c. 35): ἔκ τινων διαβόλων παροξυνθεὶς πρὸς Καίσαρα, says Plutarch. He pretended, Dion says, to come for the purpose of helping to put down Sextus Pompeius, his real object beingrather to see what was going on, than to take any active part. He came to Brundisium, but the people would not let him come into the harbor (according to Plutarch), and he therefore went on to Tarentum. Negotiations were carried on between the two rivals (Cæsar being at Rome) through agents employed by both, but without effect, till Octavia undertook to mediate between her husband and brother, and was finally successful in reconciling them. It has been supposed, with every probability, that the mission which Horace accompanied was sent by Augustus to meet Antonius on his expected arrival at Brundisium, on this occasion.
Horace started from Rome with only one companion, Heliodorus the rhetorician (v. 2), and these two travelled together three days and one night, about fifty-six miles, till they reached Tarracina or Anxur, where, by appointment, they were to meet the official members of their party. These were Mæcenas and Cocceius, who had been employed in negotiating the first reconciliation between Augustus and Antonius (B. C.40), and Fonteius, an intimate friend of the latter. Three days afterwards, they met at Sinuessa Horace’s three most intimate friends, Plotius Tucca, Varius, and Virgil; one of whom, Varius, kept them company only for six days, and left them, for reasons which are not mentioned, at Canusium (v. 93). The rest of the party went on together till they reached Brundisium, seventeen days after Horace had left Rome. The route they took was not the shortest or the easiest, which lay through Venusia and Tarentum. They preferred taking the northeastern road, which strikes across the country from Beneventum, and, reaching the coast at Barium continues along the shore till it comes to Brundisium. They were evidently not pressed for time, and probably took the road they did because it passed through Canusium, whither one of the party was bound. Mæcenas made his journey as agreeable as, under the circumstances, it could be, by taking with him such companions; and they all appear to great advantage in Horace’s good-humored diary. There was no restraint between the patron and his friends, and it is very pleasant to contemplate their affection for him and one another.
It is probable that, before Horace returned to Rome, he visited Tarentum and his native place, Venusia, through which he would naturally pass. He seems to have had in mind the description by Lucilius of a journey he took to Capua, of which three or four verses only have been preserved (see note on v. 6).
1.Egressum magna me excepit Aricia] They left Rome by the Porta Capena, between Mons Aventinus and Mons Cælius, in the southern quarter of the city. Aricia (La Riccia), one of the most ancient towns of Latium, was sixteen miles from Rome. It was situated on the side of a hill, sloping down to a valley called Vallis Aricina, through which the Appia Via passed. This part of the road is still in good preservation. The citadel was placed on the top of the hill (Strabo, v. p. 239), and on that spot stands the modern town. Aricia was a considerable town in Horace’s time, and for some centuries after. Cicero calls it “municipium — vetustate antiquissimum, splendore municipum honestissimum” (Phil. iii. 6). Its neighborhood to Rome, and accessible position, contributed to its prosperity, which was assisted by its association with the worship of Diana Aricina, who had a temple among the woods on the small lake (Lacus Nemorensis), a short way from the town, probably on the site of the modern town Nemi. The wealthy Romans had villas in the neighborhood.
By ‘hospitio modico’ Horace means an indifferent inn; but ‘hospitium’ is not the Latin for an ‘inn,’ which was called ‘caupona,’ or ‘taberna,’ or ‘diversorium,’ and its keeper ‘caupo.’ The inns at the different stages on the great roads were never very good, the chief reason being that travellers ofany importance usually found friends at the principal towns, who entertained them.
2.rhetor comes Heliodorus,] Horace jocularly exaggerates the merits of this Greek. Nothing is known of him from other sources. Appii Forum was thirty-nine miles from Rome, and was so called by Appius Claudius, surnamed Cæcus, who in his censorship (A. U. C.441) constructed the Via Appia and the great aqueduct which bore his name. Some ruins of this town are said by Walckenaer still to exist. Its modern name is Borgo Lungo. The participle ‘differtus’ means ‘full,’ and is formed as from ‘differcio,’ which verb is not found. ‘Differtus’ occurs below (Epp. i. 6. 59). ‘Malignis’ belongs to ‘cauponibus’ in the same sense as ‘perfidus’ (S. 1. 29). ‘Nautae’ were the boatmen who plied on the canal mentioned below (v. 7, n.). It was to Appii Forum that some of the Christians, when they heard of St. Paul’s approach, went, from Rome, to meet him. Others met him at a place called Tres Tabernae (La Castella), which was about seven miles from Aricia, and sixteen from Appii Forum. Horace must have passed through this town without stopping. It was a well-known place, and from it a Christian bishop took his title, “Felix a Tribus Tabernis.”
5.Hoc iter] i.e. the journey from Rome to Appii Forum, which was usually made in one day, they took two to accomplish. ‘Praecinctus’ is opposed to ‘discinctus,’ and means ‘one well girt,’ εὔζωνος, and ready for active exertion, running, etc. Horace uses the word more literally, S. ii. 8. 70: “ut omnes Praecincti recte pueri comptique ministrent.” The Asiatics tuck up in their girdles their long garments, when they are preparing to run or walk quick. Hence such expressions as we meet with in Scripture, “Gird up the loins of your mind.” ‘Succinctus,’ ‘tucked up,’ is the more usual word.
6.minus est gravis Appia tardis.] Horace means, that the Via Appia was less fatiguing to the slow traveller than to the quick; that it was a rough road, over which the slower you went, the less unpleasant was the journey. This road was constructed with a foundation of large squared blocks of basaltic stone, over which was laid a coating of gravel, until the Emperors Nerva and Trajan laid it with silex, according to an inscription found on a mile-stone in the neighborhood of Forum Appii. Horace speaks elsewhere of the traveller “qui Romam Capua petit imbre lutoque Adspersus” (Epp. i. 11. 11). In one of the verses of the Satire of Lucilius, mentioned in the Introduction, he says, “Praeterea omne iter est labosum atque lutosum.”
7.Hic ego propter aquam,] At Appii Forum they were to embark at night in a boat that was to carry them by canal to Tarracina. A party were waiting at the same inn to go with them, and Horace waited with impatience till they had done supper. These he means by ‘comites.’ This canal was constructed by Augustus. There are still traces of it to be seen. It was nineteen miles long, and was called in consequence Decennovium. The road may have been defective hereabouts, as it was the general practice of travellers to exchange it for the canal, and to make the journey by night.
9.Jam nox inducere terris] This is a parody of the heroic style, unless it be taken from some poet, as Ennius.
12.Huc appelle!] “Put in here, and take us on board!” cries a servant. “How many more?—you’ll swamp the boat!” says another to the boatman, who wants to get as many as he can. The bank is crowded; the passengers all want to be attended to at once. The collection of the fare and putting-to the mule being accomplished, Horace goes on board. The boat starts, and he lies down to sleep, disturbed much by the mosquitos and the croaking of frogs. The boatman and one of the passengers, half drunk, sing songs till the one drops off to sleep, and the other, having a mind to do the same, stops the boat, turns the mule out to graze, lays himself down andsnores till the dawn of day, when one of the passengers wakes, starts up in a passion, and falls foul of the boatman and the poor mule, who is put to again, and a little after the fourth hour they reach their destination, a temple of Feronia, about seventeen miles from the place where they embarked. ‘Cerebrosus’ is an old word signifying ‘choleric.’ ‘Dolare’ is properly to turn a piece of wood with an axe, ‘dolabra.’ ‘He rough-hewed him with a cudgel.’ It is only here used in this sense. Feronia was a goddess, worshipped originally by the Sabines. On the site of the temple near which Horace and his party disembarked, there now stands an old tower, bearing the name Torre Ottofacia. Horace says they only washed their hands and face, which would be no little refreshment after a night spent in a canal-boat.
25.Millia tum pransi tria repimus] Three miles farther, on the top of a steep ascent, stood the town of Tarracina (Terracina), which by the Volscians was called Anxur, by which name it is always mentioned by the poets. The winding of the road up the hill, and the difficulty of the ascent, explains the word ‘repimus.’ The old town of Tarracina was built on the top of the hill, but this site was afterwards abandoned, and a new town built on the plain below, close upon the shore, which is the site of the modern Terracina. It was in Horace’s day, and had been for a long time, and long continued to be, a town of great importance, as it was one of great antiquity. The buildings of white marble, perhaps, gave it the appearance described in ‘late candentibus.’ The same appearance is observed still in the modern town. After leaving the boat, the party lunched before they proceeded. The ‘prandium’ was a light meal, usually eaten about noon, but sometimes earlier, as probably was the case in this instance.
27.Huc venturus erat] See Introduction. L. Cocceius Nerva was a friend of M. Antonius, and was among those whom Augustus found in Perusia when he took it (B. C.41). He offered these persons no indignity, but made friends of them, and Cocceius seems to have become especially intimate with Augustus, without betraying his friendship for M. Antonius.
29.aversos soliti componere amicos.] After the taking of Perusia, war was threatened between Augustus and Antonius, which was averted by an arrangement made through the medium of Mæcenas, on the part of Augustus, and of Cocceius and Pollio, on the part of Antonius. This is what Horace alludes to.
30.nigra meis collyria lippus] ‘Collyrium,’ an ointment for sore eyes, was composed of juices expressed from the poppy and various shrubs, as the lycium, glaucion, acacia, hypocystis, etc. The etymology of the word is not known.
32.Capitoque simul Fonteius,] Not much is known of C. Fonteius Capito. He was deputed by Augustus on this occasion, as being a particular friend of M. Antonius, who afterwards, as Plutarch relates (Anton. 36), sent him, while he was in Syria, to fetch Cleopatra thither from Egypt. The expression ‘ad unguem factus’ is taken from the craft of the sculptor, who tries the surface of his statue by passing the nail over it; if the parts be put perfectly together, and the whole work well finished, the nail passes over the surface, and meets with no obstruction. See Persius, S. i. 64. Compare also A. P. 294. Below (S. ii. 7. 86) the perfect man is described as
“in se ipso totus, teres atque rotundus,Externi ne quid valeat per leve morari,”
which is like the description of the text, though the metaphor is not quite the same.
33.non ut magis alter] This is equivalent to ‘quam qui maxime’ in prose.
34.Fundos Aufidio Lusco praetore] They arrived at Tarracina about noon, and there the principal personages met them. At Tarracina theyslept, and proceeded next morning to Fundi (Fondi), sixteen miles farther to the northeast of Tarracina. Fundi was situated on the north shore of a lake, which was called after it Fundanus; and also Amyclanus from an old Greek town Amyclæ, the existence of which was only traditional when Horace wrote, but is occasionally mentioned by the poets. Fundi was one of that class of towns called ‘praefectura,’ which, instead of having the administration of its own affairs, was governed by a ‘praefectus’ sent annually from Rome by the Prætor Urbanus. At this time the ‘praefectus’ was one Aufidius Luscus (not otherwise known), an upstart whom Horace calls Prætor by way of ridicule. The officers of the other municipal towns were allowed to wear the ‘toga praetexta,’ the ‘toga’ with a purple border (Livy xxxiv. 7), but the ‘praefecti’ were not, and yet Luscus wore it. The ‘latus clavus’ was a broad purple stripe down the front of the tunic, and was a badge that belonged only to senators. ‘Prunae batillum’ was a pan of hot coals, which may have been used for burning incense or otherwise in connection with sacrifice. But its use is uncertain. Aufidius, it appears, had been a ‘scriba’ or clerk, probably in the prætor’s office,—such a situation as Horace held at this time in the quæstor’s. Persons in that capacity had opportunities of pushing their fortunes if they managed well, and the honors of Luscus are spoken of as ‘praemia,’ rewards of service rendered to his master.
37.In Mamurrarum] Disgusted with the officiousness of the promoted scribe, the party move on, in the course of the day, to Formiæ (Mola di Gaeta), about twelve miles farther, where the road, having taken an upward bend from Tarracina to Fundi, goes straight down from thence to the coast, where Formiæ was situated at the head of the Sinus Caietanus. Its supposed identity with the Læstrygonia of Homer has been noticed before (C. iii. 16. 34, n., and 17, Int.). As the scene of Cicero’s frequent retirement, and his death, it is a place of much interest. Its wines Horace mentions more than once. He here calls it the city of the Mamurræ,—a family of respectability in this town. When the party got to Formiæ, having travelled upwards of twenty-five miles, they were tired, and resolved to pass the night there. Licinius Murena (C. ii. 10, Int.), having a house at this place, gave them the use of it, but as he was not there himself, and probably had no establishment in the house suitable to the entertainment of such guests, Fonteius Capito invited his fellow travellers to dine with him. He therefore appears to have had a house at Formiæ likewise.
40.Sinuessae] Leaving Formiæ next day, the party set out for Sinuessa, eighteen miles distant. The road crossed the Liris (C. i. 31. 7) at Minturnæ, and went down the coast till it reached Sinuessa, the most southerly of the Latin towns. The site is now called Monte Dragone (Cramer). It was on the sea, and said to have been founded on the ruins of the Greek city Sinope. Strabo (v. 234) derives its name from the Sinus Vescinus on which it stood. Plotius Tucca appears to have been a native of Cisalpine Gaul. He was associated with L. Varius Rufus by Virgil, who loved them both, as the executor of his will, and he was employed in the task of editing the Æneid after his death. Nothing more is known of him, but what we gather from this passage and S. i. 10. 81, that he was one of Mæcenas’s friends, and on intimate terms with Horace. As to L. Varius, see C. i. 6. 1. S. i. 10. 44.
45.Proxima Campano ponti] After Sinuessa, the Appia Via continued to take a southerly direction, and crossed the Savo (Savone) about three miles from that town, and just within the borders of Campania. That river was crossed by a bridge bearing the name Pons Campanus, near which was a small house erected for the accommodation of persons travelling on public business, where there were officers appointed to supply them with ordinary necessaries. Hence they were called ‘parochi,’ from the Greek παρέχειν. In this house the party passed the night.
47.Hinc muli Capuae] When it reached the right bank of the Vulturnus, four miles below the Savo, the Appia Via turned, striking inland along that bank of the river, which it crossed at the town of Casilinum, where Hannibal met with stout resistance from the Romans who garrisoned it after the battle of Cannæ (Liv. xxiii. 17). This is perhaps the site of the modern Capua. About two miles farther on the road, which now took a southeasterly direction, lay Capua, on the site of which is the modern village Santa Maria di Capoa. There the party arrived ‘betimes,’—in time probably for dinner, after which meal Mæcenas and others of the party went to play at ball, while Horace, whose sight, and Virgil, whose digestion, interfered with that amusement, went early to bed. Virgil is said to have had uncertain health, and to have suffered frequently, either from toothache, headache, or complaints of the stomach.
50.Hinc nos Cocceii] The road, continuing in a southeast direction, passed through two small Campanian towns, Calatia (Le Galazze) and Ad Novas (La Nova), but the usual halting-place after Capua was the town of Caudium, which was the first Samnite town on the Appia Via, and was situated at the head of the pass called the Furcæ (or Fauces) Caudinæ, celebrated for the surprise and capture of the Roman army by C. Pontius, in the second Samnite war,B. C.321. At Caudium, Cocceius had a handsome house, and Horace marks its situation by saying it lay beyond the public tavern. The town was twenty one miles from Capua.
51.Nunc mihi paucis] The scene that follows represents a scurrilous contest between two parasites, whom Mæcenas carried with him for the entertainment of himself and his party. The description begins with an invocation of the Muse, after the fashion of the Epic poets. Sarmentus was an Etrurian by birth, and originally a slave of M. Favonius (well known in the civil wars, and put to death by Augustus after the battle of Philippi). On the confiscation of the property of Favonius, Sarmentus passed by public sale into the hands of Mæcenas, who gave him his liberty. He then obtained the office of ‘scriba’ in the quæstor’s department, and affected the position of an Eques. He was brought to trial for pretending to a rank he had no claim to (perhaps under the law of Otho), and got off only by the favor of the judges, and by the accuser being put out of the way. When old, he was reduced to great poverty through his licentiousness and extravagance, and was obliged to sell his place as ‘scriba.’ When persons taunted him with this, he showed his ready wit by replying that he had a good memory; by which probably he meant that he had no occasion to write anything down, for he could carry it in his head. It appears that at the time Horace wrote he was free, and held his scribe’s office, though he continued to attend Mæcenas, for his adversary says, though he was a scribe, he was in fact only a runaway, and still belonged to his mistress, the widow of Favonius (v. 66), which is only a joke that would amuse Mæcenas, who had bought and manumitted Sarmentus. When Horace says that Messius was of the noble blood of the Osci, he only means, by way of joke, to say that he was of old and high descent. Perhaps he also alludes to the scar on his temple, which indicated the disease called Campanian (the Campanians were of Oscan descent), of which we are told that it consisted of great excrescences over the temples like horns, which used to be cut out, and left a scar. The Oscans also were the authors of the ‘Atellanae fabulae,’ which were full of broad raillery and coarse wit, which may have something to do with Horace’s joke. ‘Cicirrhus’ is a nickname from κίκιῤῥος, which signifies, according to Hesychius, ‘a cock.’ With these explanations most of the allusions will be intelligible.
58.Accipio, caput et movet.] Messius accepts Sarmentus’s joke as a challenge, and shakes his head fiercely at him, on which Sarmentus takes him up and pretends to be alarmed. The wild horse to which Messius is likened isthe unicorn, an imaginary animal described by Pliny as a very terrible beast.
63.Pastorem saltaret] That he should dance the Cyclops’ dance, in which the uncouth gestures of Polyphemus courting Galatea were represented. See Epp. ii. 2. 125. Ovid (Trist. ii. 519) uses ‘salto’ in the passive voice: “Et mea sunt populo saltata poëmata saepe.”
64.larva] The Greek actors always wore masks on the stage suited to the character they were performing. The Romans adopted them aboutB. C.100. They were called πρόσωπα by the Greeks, and ‘personae’ or ‘larvae’ by the Romans. As to ‘cothurnus,’ see C. ii. 1. 12, n.
65.Donasset jamne catenam] See Epp. i. 1. 4, n.
67.Nihilo deterius] ‘Nihilo’ is to be pronounced as a dissyllable, like “vehemens et liquidus” (Epp. ii. 2. 120).
68.una Farris libra] The allowance of ‘far’ to each slave was four or five ‘modii’ by the month, and it was served out to them monthly, or sometimes daily (Epp. i. 14. 40). That allowance would give three pints a day, which Messius considers would be three times as much as Sarmentes could possibly require, so he could not better himself by running away. The ‘far’ was otherwise called ‘adoreum’ (C. iv. 4. 41, n.), and seems to have been the same as the Greek ζειά or ὄλυρα. The nature of this grain is not exactly known. That two persons above the condition of slaves should be found in waiting on any man, great or otherwise, for the purpose of entertaining him with such low buffoonery as the above, seems surprising to us; but we know that there was no personal degradation to which this class of people, called ‘parasites’ (diners out), would not demean themselves for the pleasure of a good dinner and the company of the great. The entertainment of these persons would serve to keep the conversation from turning upon politics, which, as the deputies from both sides were now together, it was desirable to avoid.
71.Beneventum,] The Appia Via took a northeast turn from Caudium, for ten miles, till it came to Beneventum (Benevento), a very ancient town, by tradition said to have been founded by Diomed, and the name of which was originally, when the Samnites had it, Maleventum, or some name that sounded so like Maleventum to a Latin ear that the Romans thought fit to change it (for good luck) to Beneventum. Thither the party proceeded next day, and put up at an inn, when the host nearly set fire to his house through carelessness in roasting some indifferent thrushes for their dinner. ‘Hospes paene arsit,’ ‘the host nearly got himself on fire,’ means that he nearly burnt the house down, as the context shows. The expression is the same as in Aen. ii. 311. “Jam proximus ardet Ucalegon.” The position of ‘macros’ is a little careless.
78.quos torret Atabulus] This was a cold wind, said to be peculiar to Apulia. ‘Torret’ is a word which applies to the effect of cold, as well as heat. ‘Atabulus’ is generally looked upon by the commentators as the Sirocco, a hot land wind. But it came directly off the sea from the east, and Pliny speaks of it as a winter wind.
79.Nunquam erepsemus] This is one of the many abbreviated forms Horace uses. See C. i. 36. 8, n., and to the examples there given add the present, and also ‘surrexe,’ ‘divisse,’ ‘evasti.’ ‘Vixet,’ in Aen. xi. 118, is a like contraction of the same tense as ‘erepsemus.’ Horace says that they would never have got out of these hills (the range that borders Samnium and separates it from Apulia) had they not found an inn at the town of Trivicum (Trevico), at which they were able to put up for the night. He means that the next stage, which was twenty-four miles farther on, would have been too long a journey. Horace had been familiar with these mountains in his early childhood, for they overlooked his native town. ‘Notos’ refers to theseearly reminiscences. Trivicum was probably on a cross road (Cramer, ii. 259) which lay between the two branches of the Appia Via, one of which took the most direct course from Beneventum through Venusia to Tarentum and Brundisium, and the other took a more northerly course across the Apennines, near Equus Tuticus; and then, striking directly eastward till it arrived very near the sea-coast, near Cannæ, proceeded down the line of coast till it reached Brundisium.
81.camino.] See Epod. ii. 43, n.
86.rhedis,] See S. ii. 6. 42.
87.Mansuri oppidulo] It appears probable that the road on which Trivicum lay, entering Apulia about ten miles from that town, passed through or near the Apulian Asculum (Ascoli), and it is in that neighborhood that the little town with the unrhythmical name, at which the party stopped after Trivicum, is supposed to have stood. Of its name we must be content to be ignorant.
91.Nam Canusi lapidosus,] In a plain between the hills and the right bank of the Aufidus, about twelve miles from its mouth, stood the town of Canusium (Canosa), one of the ancient Greek settlements of Apulia. This town and others in Apulia (Venusia and Brundisium among them), and in other parts of Eastern Italy, were represented to have been founded by Diomed, when, after the Trojan war, he was driven to the coast of Apulia, and hospitably entertained and presented with land by Daunus, its king. His name was retained by the islands now called Tremiti, but by the ancients Diomedeæ. Many remains found among its ruins testify to the former importance and wealth of Canusium. The present town stands on a height where the citadel stood, and contains not above 300 houses. A supply of good water was brought into this town by Hadrian, the emperor. That Apulia was not well watered, has been observed before (Epod. iii. 16, n.). The turbid waters of the Aufidus must have been unfit for drinking. The bread of Canosa is described by modern travellers to be as bad as ever. It is accounted for by the softness of the millstones.
91.aquae non ditior urna] The only way of taking this regularly is to make ‘ditior’ agree with ‘locus,’ ‘which place, being not richer in water (than the last) by a single pitcher, was built by brave Diomed.’ So Orelli takes it. The construction is not very agreeable; but to avoid it we must suppose great irregularity.
93.Varius] See above, v. 40, n.
94.Rubos] This town of the Peucetii retains its name under the form Ruvo, and was thirty miles from Canusium. The road from Canusium was called Via Egnatia, from the town it led to. A modern traveller describes the remains of it for twelve miles from Canosa as paved with common rough pebbles, and passing over a pleasant down.
96.ad usque] See S. i. 1. 97, n.
97.Bari moenia piscosi;] Barium still retains its name Bari, occupying a rocky peninsula of a triangular form, about a mile in circumference. It was an important town on the coast, and a municipium. Its distance from Rubi was twenty-two miles, “a most disagreeable stony road through a vine country,” and half-way there lay the town Butuntum (Bitonto). There was a harbor here formerly, but there is scarcely any now.
Gnatia] This was perhaps the local way of pronouncing Egnatia. It was another seaport town, and thirty-seven miles from Barium. Between them lay formerly two small forts called Turris Juliana (Torre Pellosa) and Turris Aureliana (Ripagnola), the first eleven miles and the second twenty miles from Barium. Of Egnatia nothing important is recorded. Its ruins are still in existence near Torre d’Agnazzo, six miles from the town of Monopoli. Horace says it was built under the displeasure of the Nymphs, because thewater was so bad, and it is so still according to the statements of travellers. ‘Lymphae’ and ‘Nymphae’ are essentially the same word, but Nymphs are not elsewhere called Lymphæ. These Nymphs are the Naiades, who protected rivers and fountains. See C. i. 1. 22, n.
100.Judaeas Apella,] The majority of the Jews at Rome were freedmen, and ‘Apella’ was a common name for ‘libertini.’ Their creed was a superstition of the most contemptible kind, in the eyes of a Roman; and a Jew was only another name for a credulous fool. The Jews returned their contempt with hatred, which showed itself in a turbulent spirit that made them very troublesome. Horace intimates that he had learnt from the school of Epicurus that the gods were too happy to mind the small affairs of this world, which he expresses in the words of Lucretius (vi. 57): “Nam bene qui didicere deos securum agere aevum.” See C. i. 34. 2, n., and the Introduction to that Ode.
104.Brundisium] From this abrupt conclusion, we may judge that Horace had got tired of his journal as well as his journey. Brundisium (Brindisi) was for centuries the most important town on the eastern coast of Italy, chiefly through the convenience of its position for communicating with Greece, and the excellence of its harbor. Its distance from Egnatia was thirty-five miles. There was a station named Speluncæ (now Grotta Rosa) midway, where the party may have halted one night, and which Horace, having nothing he cared to tell us about it, has passed over in silence.
SATIRE VI.
Inaddition to the obloquy brought upon him by his Satires, Horace, after his intimacy with Mæcenas had begun to be known, had to meet the envy such good fortune was sure to excite. His birth would furnish a handle for the envious, and he was probably called an upstart and hard names of that sort. In this Satire, which is nothing but an epistle to Mæcenas, he spurns the idea of his birth being any objection to him, while, at the same time, he argues sensibly against men trying to get beyond their own legitimate sphere, and aiming at honors which are only attended with inconvenience, fatigue, and ill-will. This Satire, besides the good sense and good feeling it contains, is valuable as bearing upon Horace’s life. His introduction to Mæcenas is told concisely, but fully, and with much propriety and modesty; and nothing can be more pleasing than the filial affection and gratitude shown in those parts that relate to his father, and the education he gave him. He takes pleasure in referring whatever merits he might have to this good parent, as he did in the fourth Satire.
The Satire, then, may be supposed to have been written chiefly for the purpose of disarming envy, by showing the modesty of the author’s pretensions, and the circumstances that led to his intimacy with Mæcenas. The views of public life which it contains were no doubt sincere, and the daily routine described at the end was better suited to Horace’s habit of mind than the fatigues and anxieties of office. There is not the least appearance in any of his writings of his having been spoiled by his good fortune and by his intercourse, on terms of rare familiarity, with Augustus, Mæcenas, and others; and probably malignity never attacked any one less deserving of attack than Horace.
1.Lydorum quidquid Etruscos] On Mæcenas’s connection with Etruria, see C. i. 1. 1, n. The legend of the Lydian settlement of Etruria is first mentioned by Herodotus (i. 94), as a tradition current among the Lydiansthemselves. The tradition was, that on one occasion, when Lydia was suffering from famine, the king, Atys, divided the people into two equal parts, of whom one remained at home, and the other took ship and made the coast of Etruria, and there settled, under Tyrrhenus, the son of Atys. Horace and Virgil (Aen. ii. 781) both adopted this story, which was familiar to men of learning, and perhaps believed by many. ‘Lydorum quidquid,’ ‘all the Lydians that ever inhabited,’ etc., is like Epod. v. 1: “At, o deorum quidquid in caelo regit.”
3.avus tibi maternus] It seems from inscriptions to have been the practice of the Etrurians for men to be distinguished by the name of their mother, as well as their father.
5.naso suspendis adunco] This the Greeks expressed by μυκτηρίζειν. It is taken from that instinctive motion of the features which expresses contempt. How to account for it may not be easy, though it is so common. The expression ‘naso suspendere’ Horace may have invented. It occurs nowhere else, except in Persius (S. i. 118). It is repeated below, S. ii. 8. 64: “Balatro suspendens omnia naso.” ‘Ut’ occurring twice in these two lines introduces confusion. The second means ‘as for instance.’
6.libertino patre natum.] The difference between ‘libertus’ and ‘libertinus’ is, that the latter expressed a man who had been manumitted, the former a freedman in his relation to the master who had given him his freedom. The son of a ‘libertinus,’ born after his father’s manumission, and all other persons born free, were ‘ingenui’; and Horace says that Mæcenas, though he would not take into his intimacy a freedman, made no inquiry as to the parentage of any one born free, but would make him his friend if he deserved it.
9.Ante potestatem Tulli] Horace here follows the legend which made Servius Tullius the son of a slave-girl, and himself a slave in the palace of King Tarquinius (see Livy, i. 39). On this account his reign was ignoble, while in true nobility it was surpassed by none of the others. Another legend (which Ovid follows, Fast. vi. 627, sqq.) makes Tullius the son of Vulcan; but his mother is there also a slave, having been taken captive at Corniculum, a city taken by Tarquinius Priscus.
12.Laevinum, Valeri genus] The Valeria gens was one of the most ancient in Rome, and embraced some of the most distinguished families, among others that of Publicola, the earliest member of which mentioned in history is Valerius Publicola, the colleague of Brutus after the expulsion of the kings. The family of Lævinus was another distinguished branch of the same gens. The Lævinus in the text is said to have been a man of abandoned character, so bad that even the populace, who were not easily deterred from conferring their honors upon the vicious, could not be prevailed on by admiration of his high ancestry to advance him beyond the quæstorship; that is to say, he never held a curule office. As to ‘genus,’ see C. i. 3. 27. On ‘unde,’ which is equivalent to ‘a quo,’ see C. i. 12. 17, n.; ii. 12. 7. ‘Fugit’ is the historic present, as it is called.
14.pluris licuisse,] ‘Licere’ is ‘to be put up for sale,’ and its correlative term is ‘liceri,’ ‘to bid for an article at a sale by auction.’ ‘Notare’ is to set a bad mark upon, to brand, and was technically applied to the censors (see note on v. 20). ‘Judice quo nosti’ is an instance of attraction, which figure the Romans borrowed from the Greeks, but did not use so commonly.
17.titulis et imaginibus.] These were inscriptions, and waxen busts, recording the distinctions of any member of a family who had borne a curule office.
quid oportet Nos facere] Horace means to say, that those who by education and profession and experience were very far removed from the common people, ought to judge differently from them, and better. In this number heplaces himself. ‘Longe longeque’ is not an uncommon phrase. See Cicero (De Fin. ii. 21), and Ovid (Met. iv. 325). The repetition is only analogous to many others in the Latin language, as ‘etiam atque etiam,’ ‘nimium nimiumque,’ ‘magis magisque,’ etc.
19.Namque esto] He goes on to show, that though the value set upon titles and birth by the populace might be exaggerated, yet the other extreme is not to be allowed; and that he who seeks to push himself beyond his sphere, might be justly rebuked for his presumption.
20.Quam Decio mandare novo,] P. Decius Mus, who devoted himself to death for his country at the battle of Vesuvius, in the Latin war,B. C.340, was the first consul of his family. He held the office with T. Manlius Torquatus in that year. After the curule magistracies were opened to the plebeians, an order of nobility sprung up among themselves, based upon the holding of these offices. Those families of which any member had ever held a curule office were ‘nobiles,’ the rest ‘ignobiles,’ and he in whose person such dignity was first attained was called, originally no doubt through the contempt of the patricians, but afterwards conventionally by all, ‘novus homo.’ The Decia gens was plebeian.
censorque moveret Appius] The Appius who is here taken as the type of severe censorship is Appius Claudius Caecus, the constructor of the road and aqueduct that bore his name (see S. 5. 2). He was made CensorB. C.312. It was the province of the Censors, till that office was merged in the imperial power, to supply vacancies in the senate from the list of those who were eligible, who were all citizens of at least equestrian rank, of not less than a certain age (which is not known exactly but it was between thirty and forty), and those persons who had served in the principal magistracies. But they could also, in revising the list of senators at the beginning of their censorship, degrade those who had previously been in the senate, as well as exclude such as by their official rank were entitled to be senators. This they did, at their own discretion, for various offences by which ‘ignominia’ was liable to be incurred, or from the senator having been chosen improperly. They effected this exclusion merely by marking the name, and their mark was called ‘nota censoria,’ and the act itself, ‘notare.’ Horace, therefore, means that if he, through the favor of Mæcenas or other means, sought as a freedman’s son to reach the dignity of a senator, and succeeded, the censors, if they did their duty strictly, would degrade him. The censor Appius, however, is notorious for his laxity in having chosen, for party purposes, the sons of freedmen, and other unqualified people, into the senate. But he was harsh and arbitrary in the exercise of his office, and his name was proverbial in connection with the censorship, which is enough to account for his appearance here. There was no money qualification for the senate, but only one of rank. ‘Movere’ is the technical word for degrading a senator, and those who were degraded, or not admitted, were called ‘praeteriti senatores’ from the circumstance of their being merely passed by when the lists were made out, and their names not appearing, which would prevent them from acting.
22.in propria non pelle quiessem.] This is the old story of the ass in the lion’s skin.
23.Sed fulgente trahit] This verse may or may not be taken from some heroic poem. It is introduced humorously, and yet with a serious meaning. ‘Let the populace set their hearts upon rank and descent, and let the censors make that their standard for the senate, yet the humbly born may have their honors as well’; that is, the honors that arise from virtue and genius. The picture of Glory mounted on her car is repeated in Epp. ii. 1. 177, where the epithet ‘fulgente’ is exchanged for ‘ventoso,’ ‘fickle as the winds.’
24.Quo tibi, Tilli,] This person is said to have been a senator, and to have been degraded by Julius Cæsar, as being of Pompeius’s party, but reinstatedafter Cæsar’s death, and made a military tribune. Whether or not he is different from the person mentioned below, v. 107, it is not easy to say.
25.fierique tribuno?] Each legion in the Roman army (the number varied at different times, but at Philippi there were nineteen on each side, each legion consisting of about 6,000 men, rather less than more) had six tribunes (the post Horace held in the army of Brutus), who were their principal officers. The military tribunes of the first four legions were entitled to sit in the senate. (See Epod. iv. 15, n.) As to the ‘latus clavus,’ see note on the 34th verse of the last Satire. ‘Quo,’ ‘to what purpose.’ (See C. ii. 2. 9, n.)
27.Nam ut quisque insanus] The senators’ ‘calceus,’ an outdoor shoe, was fastened by four thongs (‘nigris pellibus’), two on each side, which went spirally up to the calf of the leg (‘medium crus’). These thongs were called ‘corrigiae,’ and were black. The shoe itself appears to have varied in color.
30.quo morbo Barrus,] His disease was a thirst for admiration among women. He was a man of bad passions, it is said. But we do not know much about him. He need not be identified with the man in S. 4. 110. A foul-mouthed person of the same name occurs in the next Satire (v. 8).
34.Sic qui promittit] This refers to the promises of candidates for office, and the three principal magistracies are implied: the city prætorship, in the words ‘urbem sibi curae’; the consulship, in ‘imperium et Italiam’; and the ædileship, in ‘delubra deorum,’ because it was the duty of the ædile to attend to the temples and other public buildings.
38.Syri, Damae, aut Dionysi] These were common names of slaves. The practice of executing criminals by throwing them from the Tarpeian Rock (part of the Mons Capitolinus) was not common in the latter period of the republic. It was never applied to slaves, who were put to death, chiefly by crucifixion, outside the city on the Esquiliæ. (See Epod. v. 99, n.) Cadmus is said to have been a public executioner of that day.
40.At Novius] The upstart who is supposed to be addressed in the previous lines, is a plebeian tribune, and he here affirms that, if his birth is low, that of his colleague Novius (who may be anybody, see note on S. 3. 21) is still lower. Freedmen, and persons following low trades, were admitted into the senate, and forced into high magistracies by Julius Cæsar, and it was not till some years after this Satire was written that Augustus purged the senate of these members. The words ‘gradu post me sedet uno’ may be a metaphor taken from the theatre, of which the first fourteen rows were assigned to the Equites (Epod. iv. 15, n.).
41.Hoc tibi Paullus Et Messalla] These were names belonging to two of the most distinguished families of Rome, the Æmilia and Valeria. Horace introduces the name Messalla probably out of compliment to his friend Corvinus, for whom he wrote C. iii. 21. As to ‘hoc,’ in the sense of ‘propter hoc,’ see above, S. 1. 46, n. The same person who puts the question ‘tune Syri, etc.?’ is here supposed to rejoin, saying, that, though this worthy tribune has a colleague a degree less illustrious than himself, he need not think himself a Paullus; and besides, though Novius be his inferior in one way, he beats him in strength of lungs, “and that is what we like,” where the speaker ironically puts himself for the people.
43.Concurrantque foro tria funera,] These would be public funerals, ‘funera indictiva,’ at which the corpse of the deceased was carried in procession from his house, with the noise of trumpets and horns and fifes; and women (‘praeficae’) singing dirges; and ‘mimi,’ dancers and stage-players, who recited passages suited to the occasion, and sometimes acted the part of merry-andrews, mixing mirth with woe; and after these came men who represented the ancestors of the deceased, wearing masks suited to each character; and then the corpse on an open bier, which was followed by the relations and friends, all dressed in black. They went thus in procession to the Forum,when the bier was set down, and one of the relations pronounced a funeral oration, after which the body was taken up again, and the procession went on, with the same noisy accompaniments, to the place without the city (intramural burials were forbidden by the laws of the Twelve Tables) where the body was first to be burnt, and then buried. The idiom ‘magna sonabit’ occurs above, S. 4. 43, ‘os magna sonaturum.’
48.Quod mihi pareret] See above, on v. 25.
49.forsit] This word is compounded of ‘fors sit.’ Whether it occurs elsewhere, or whether the passages in which it is supposed to occur are correctly copied, is doubted. Horace says, it might be that people had cause to grudge him the honorable post of military tribune, because he was not qualified for it; but no one could deny that he deserved the friendship of Mæcenas, because he was so particular in choosing only the deserving. ‘Prava ambitione’ means low flattery, to which Mæcenas would not listen.
52.Felicem dicere] ‘Felix’ is ‘lucky.’ Horace means he did not owe his introduction to Mæcenas to his luck, but to his friends. As to ‘hoc,’ see above, v. 41, n.
55.Virgilius, post hunc Varuis] See S. 5. 40, n.
56.singultim] Catching his breath, as a nervous man might.
59.Satureiano] A fine horse, bred in the pastures of Saturium in Calabria, near Tarentum. The lengthening of the antepenult is required by the metre.
64.sed vita et pectore puro.] ‘Not as being the son of a distinguished father, but because my life and heart were pure.’
68.aut mala lustra] ‘Bad haunts.’ Horace repeatedly introduces ‘aut’ after ‘neque,’ twice repeated. Other passages are C. iii. 23. 5; S. i. 9. 31; ii. 1. 15; 2. 22. The construction with ‘nec’ and ‘et’ is of the same kind, and has been noticed before.
71.macro pauper agello] This small farm of his father’s, at Venusia, was confiscated during the time he was with the army of Brutus and Cassius.
72.Noluit in Flavi ludum] His father, who knew the value of a good education, and formed a right estimate of Horace’s abilities, would not send him to a small provincial school, kept by one Flavius, where nothing but arithmetic was taught, but took him for his education to Rome, where, though Horace complains that the teaching lay chiefly in figures, and the pursuits of a practical life (Epp. ii. 1. 103, sqq.; A. P. 325, sqq.), there were means of acquiring a knowledge of literature and the arts, for those who chose to take advantage of them. Ovid in like manner was sent from Sulmo, his native town, to Rome (Trist. iv. 10. 16). ‘Magni,’ ‘magnis,’ may mean ‘big,’ ‘coarse,’ contemptuously, or they may mean ‘important,’ as centurions and their sons might be in a small municipal town.
74.Laevo suspensi loculos] This verse is repeated in Epp. i. 1. 56. Each boy went to school with a bag, in which he carried his books and pens, and perhaps his ‘calculi,’ or pebbles used in calculation. ‘Tabulam’ probably signifies the wooden tablet covered with wax, for writing upon. These country schoolboys did for themselves what at Rome was done for boys of good birth by slaves, ‘capsarii.’
75.Ibant octonis] The Ides were eight days (inclusive) after the Nones, and hence I imagine the epithet ‘octonis.’ ‘Aera’ means the teacher’s fee, which appears to have been paid monthly.
76.Sed puerum est ausus] At what age Horace was sent to Rome he does not inform us, but it is probable he went when he was about twelve years old.
77.Artes quas doceat] In the earlier days of Roman history, the education of a boy was of the simplest kind, consisting chiefly of reading, writing and arithmetic. ‘Calculator’ and ‘notarius’ continued until the time of Martial to be names for a schoolmaster; and, as observed before (v. 72, n.),the majority of boys learned little more than the above, even in Horace’s time. When Cicero was a boy, the learning of the Twelve Tables formed a necessary part of education. Freer intercourse with Greece and the Greek towns of Italy brought a more liberal class of studies to Rome, where Horace says he studied Homer (Epp. ii. 2. 41, sq.). Rhetoric was a branch of study much pursued by the young Romans; poetry likewise, and the philosophy of Greece. Their studies commenced at an early age, at first under the teaching of their ‘paedagogi,’ and afterwards (till they assumed the ‘toga virilis,’ and in some cases longer) at the ‘ludi literarii,’ private schools which they attended as day scholars.
79.In magno ut populo,] ‘So far as one could see me in such a busy crowd.’
81.custos incorruptissimus] The ‘paedagogus’ (‘custos’), whose office was of late growth at Rome, and borrowed from Greece, had the same functions as the παιδαγωγός among the Greeks, and was a slave, as there. He was continually about the boy’s person, and went with him to his masters. This task Horace’s father, who could have had but few slaves, and had none whom he could trust with such important duties, performed himself. Besides the ‘paedagogus,’ as observed above (v. 74, n.), other slaves went with the boy, to carry his bag, etc., and to give him consequence.
86.praeco — coactor] The first of these functionaries was a crier, either at auctions (one of his duties being to induce persons to attend and buy, see A. P. 419), or in courts of justice, or the public assemblies. There was a ‘praeco’ at all punishments and executions, to declare the crime of the offender (Epod. iv. 12, n.); also town-criers, who cried lost property, as with us. There were other kinds of criers. Which class Horace refers to, we cannot tell. Nor is it decided what class of ‘coactores’ his father belonged to. There were persons employed by the ‘publicani’ to collect the revenue, and who were called ‘coactores.’ The person who collected the money bid at an auction, was also a ‘coactor,’ and, generally, persons employed to collect money bore that title. It is probable that the ‘coactores’ of the first class made a good deal of money. Matthew the Apostle was one, and he was rich. It is generally believed that the elder Horace belonged to the second of the above classes, and some color is given to this by the association of the word with ‘praeco.’ But Suetonius, or the author of Horace’s life attributed to him, says that he was in the employ of the ‘publicani.’